But campaigners said that the move had come too late for thousands of patients whose lives had been cut short by the drugs.

Antipsychotics are designed to ease aggression, agitation, hallucinations and delusions, which can be caused by dementia.

Official guidelines warn that they should be used for only three months at a time.

But in reality many patients are put on the drugs for one or two years.

In America the drugs are considered so dangerous that they are required to carry a "black box" warning on labels, advising of their effects on dementia patients

The Government is to set up an audit, to discover how many of the drugs local healthcare trusts are using.

Ministers also committed to extra training for family doctors, many of whom prescribe for nursing homes, and care home staff as well as increasing the number of other treatments, such as counselling, which are available to patients.

But the report warned that it could be dangerous to wean patients off the drugs too quickly.

Paul Burstow, the Liberal Democrat MP who has been campaigning against the widespread use of these drugs, said that 13,000 lives could have been saved if the ministers had followed through on a pledge seven years ago to ensure that older people had regular medicine reviews.

He said: “This review comes much too late for thousands of elderly people whose lives have been cut short by the reckless prescribing of antipsychotic drugs.”

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, said: “Evidence of the dangers of antipsychotics has been available for some time, so though welcome, it’s a shame the report arrives so heavily delayed when many people have died prematurely from taking these drugs.

“This new plan has the potential to stem the flow of unnecessary deaths, an injustice that has affected too many families for too long, and needs to be implemented swiftly.”

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said: "This goes beyond quality of care – we see it as a fundamental human rights issue."

But Nadra Ahmed, chairman of the National Care Homes Association, insisted that the blame did not lie only with care homes.

She told BBC's Today programme: "One of the things we need to get absolutely clear here is these drugs are prescribed by general practitioners, they are not prescribed by the care home providers.”